Pepper, a robot capable of detecting human emotions and as Japanese consumers raced to be one of the first to own the “robot with a heart”.
Softbank, which developed the humanoid machine and announced it last year, said it had sold the first batch of 1,000 robots online in the first 60 seconds they were on sale.
Pepper, which costs 198,000 yen (around £1,000) plus monthly service and insurance fees, is capable of recognising feelings such as anger, joy and sadness. Including the other fees, the cost of owning one is around 1.2m yen (£6,000) over three years.
Pepper, which is four foot high, and weighs around four-and-a-half stone, can dance to music, bow in respect and move its arms in a convincing interpretation of human movement.
Softbank, which plans to release Pepper in other countries later this year, will put 1,000 units a month on sale. It has big plans for the robot, but says it will not make a profit on it for years.
